the Spirit will lead...

...the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God...

 — 1 Corinthians 2:10

 

           Most Americans consider themselves spiritual people.  But what do they mean when they say this?  That their lives have been changed by a profound encounter with God?  That they have turned away from a life of gathering possessions and consuming the products of our culture?  That they have dedicated their lives to helping the sick, poor and outcast of the world?  Hmmm.  Somehow I doubt it. 

           Research suggests that for most people being “spiritual” means that they have a certain respect for religious values.  Maybe they believe in higher principles of morality and see the order in the natural world as a sign of a plan behind creation.  Perhaps they have felt powerfully moved by a piece of music or been put at a loss for words by a beautiful sunset, and made to feel a part of something bigger than themselves.  Many even feel an inexplicable “guiding hand” upon their lives, leading and protecting them through difficult times.  In that sense, we’re probably all “spiritual” people because, whether we know it or not, whether we use it or not, we all have to some degree an inborn sense for God.

 For some that sense is ignored, repressed, or put aside as a childish fantasy.  For others, it takes center stage in their life, pushing all else out.  Even in the early church “super-spiritual” people were a problem because they believed they had the only hotline to the Lord.  They refused to examine their beliefs or actions in view of others.  Spiritual experiences became more important to them than love or discipline.

    

           In her book about spiritual gifts called In Our Music, God, our own choir director Ruby Agnir has an engaging chapter on that phrase, “the Spirit will lead me.”  She writes, “Don’t get me wrong.  I firmly believe that we need the leading of the Spirit in everything we do.  However, if we use the phrase ‘the Spirit will lead me’ in the context of ‘I don’t have time to prepare,’ or ‘I don’t have to train to do this,’ then it’s merely an echoing of the third servant’s decision to keep the talent given him and not do anything about it [see Matthew 25:14-30].  It’s just another way of saying, ‘Come what may.’”

          I love the season of Pentecost, because it shows us what mystery and mighty energy can be experienced in God’s presence.  The Spirit does lead us and guide us, as it does even for people outside the Church, and outside the Christian faith.  Pentecost brought people together and got them communicating, speaking each others’ languages so that the source of that Spirit could be named and praised.  Being part of a church, we experience that Spirit together.  We communicate, help, feed and encourage each other, share our ups and downs, pray for one another,  and work to bring all that love and care out into the world.  We know the source of that Spirit and we name Him with joy in our hearts — He is Jesus Christ. 

           But we don’t leave it at that.  We also GROW in the Spirit.  One of my greatest passions is to see individuals and congregations grow in Christ.  I love seeing people discover God’s love, and then seeing it change them into more loving people.  I love seeing people off doing their own thing coming together, communicating, cooperating, and making things happen that they could never have done on their own.  I love seeing people open their hearts to realize that, not only the spiritual things, but ALL of life’s blessings are gifts from God.  And I love it when we become more clear in our mission, more dedicated in our discipleship, more focused in following Jesus.

           The Spirit will lead us, of course.  We know that.  But we also know WHAT that Spirit is and WHOSE Spirit it is that leads us.  So we go back again and again to the waters of our Baptism, to the words of Scripture, to the bread and wine of the Holy Supper, and to the House of God where His people are gathered, growing, learning, and preparing to share God’s love in new ways.
 

Peace,

Pastor Scott

 

 

 

My life a prayer

“Just as you excel in all things - in faith, speech, knowledge in utmost eagerness and in our love for you - so we want you to excel also in this grace of giving”
     -- 2 Corinthians 8:7

Friends of Atonement,

            Alleluia!  CHRIST IS RISEN!!!
            Praise is in the air…  We praise great artists or athletes for great achievements.  We praise children when they get good grades or do something extra nice.  We look for praise from our spouse, friends or a boss.  But the most pure and perfect praise is the amazed and awestruck reaction we make to God’s incredible love.
              One of my favorite Christian songs is by the great Keith Green, who sang:
                           I want to make my life a prayer to you,
                          I want to do what you want me to,
                        No empty words and no white lies,
                       No token prayers, no compromise.
  What an amazing concept – to make our WHOLE LIVES a prayer to God!  Is it possible to make everything we do a response to his love?  I know you’ve sung the song Jesus Loves Me, This I Know, and Easter tells us he loves us so much He came back from the dead.  But how does Jesus know we love him back?  The answer of course, is praise.

The season of Easter was made for praise.  If we were could wrap up all the marvelous things God has done for us into one big package, there would be no way to say thank you for all of it.  Words fail, as they did for the women who stood gaping into the empty tomb on that first Easter day.

            The best we can do is stand back and thank God for one thing at a time.  We count our blessings, list off the gifts God gives us, thank the Lord for each loved one, each friend and family member, our pets, our property, each healed wound and every satisfied stomach.  We thank him with our prayers, our words, and our very lives.

            I can’t think of a better way to live than to make our lives a prayer to Jesus.   Your loving deeds, care for others and gracious generosity give praise to God as much as any spoken prayer ever could.  After all, the difference between a donation and an offering is the donation is for charity, the offering is for praising God.  When you give with your heart, thankful for your blessings and grateful to God, you are not just helping the church.  You are turning your gift into a prayer.

            Thanks as always for being behind the work that goes on here at Atonement.  I know that our Risen Savior stands behind you.  As we continue our ministries of worship and teaching, as we bring people closer to Jesus by feeding needy families, caring for the sick and homebound, supporting our community and sharing the joy of our Living Lord, I am grateful that God has made you a part of it all.  I hope with all my heart that through your involvement and participation in our mission to share the love of Jesus, you are inspired and enabled to make your life a prayer to Him. 

Peace,
Pastor Scott

Almost dawn on a new day

But God proves his love for us
in that while we were still sinners
Christ died for us.
       — Psalm 8:4

            The hammering, pouring, painting, stuccoing, fixing, cleaning and general constructioning will soon be over.  Things will soon be settling down to normal.  Not.

              If I’ve learned anything from working in the church, it’s that there is no normal.  Quiet never lasts long if your church is healthy and alive.  After all, we have a Living Savior who was so  discontented with quiet that He got up out of His grave!  Ours is a restless faith that refuses to let us sit back as long as there is still work to be done, still people suffering in this world, still hearts beating without hope, still people needing Jesus.
       And yet, God is good to us and knows we need a breather now and then, built into the rhythms of this life.  We can’t keep going, firing on all cylinders all the time.  We need time to stop and smell the roses, or as Jesus put it, to “consider the lilies.” 
      Worship is one way that this happens.   Gathering with other people of faith, praying together, hearing the promises of Scripture and remembering all we owe to God recharges our batteries in ways that golf or fishing just can’t match.  Plus, there’s that extra dimension that we actually get to respond to God’s goodness to us by giving back in our prayers and offerings, our time spent for others, a little of that amazing grace  He gave to us. 
        There is no law that says we must do these things, no rule that says we are obligated to attend so many services or put a certain amount into the plate.  God does not threaten to withhold

his love, or give us a slightly worse seat in heaven.  Instead, our participation in the work of the church is up to us as much as God’s decision to offer Himself for us was His.  These are acts that come from the heart, which more than anything make them works of love.

               How amazing, we say, that Christ died for us.  Easter happened for a dirty world, because God needed to do more than wipe a little smudge off of His child’s cheek.  It required a complete transformation of every human soul, but that’s not what happened.  Instead, God sent one clean Man to stand in for us, to give His blood for our own, to hold us to his breast and squeeze out our sin.  Not through our strength but through his sacrifice.  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

So we worship to give Him thanks, to get a little transfusion of the soul and transformation of life.  It makes no sense in the economy of everyday life, just as it made no sense for that heartbroken maiden to pour all that expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet just before He went to the cross.  But God has given us so much and done so much for us, what kind of life would we be living if we didn’t go a little crazy now and then in our love for Him?  I mean, come on, He sent His Son… to die… for… us!

      So, all this work we’ve been doing, fixing up our yard, our building, painting the hallways and redoing floors, is about a whole lot more than making this place look nice.  We are pouring out a sacrifice on the feet of our Lord.  If we’re doing this right, it’s all for Him, and for the world He has sent us to serve.  We work to make this place attractive, not for us, but because it is our job to attract.  We have been commanded by Christ and blessed with a mission — to bring the world into the circle of faith.  The fresh, new life of Easter should shine from our faces and reflect down every hall of our church.  We’re not looking for anything fancy, just comfortable, warm, and inviting.  We are looking to create an environment at Atonement as friendly as the people.  Because it reflects the friend we have in Jesus.

      So let’s not forget, here on the verge of Easter,  why everything is so fresh and new around here.  We follow a Savior who got up out of bed on a Sunday morning, rolled away a stone and went out from the darkness of death into the dawn of a new morning.  Let’s go out with Him into this new day — after all, there’s still work to be done!

Peace,

Pastor Scott

 

A God who cares

...What are human beings

that you are mindful of them?

What are mortals that you care for them?

--Psalm 8:4

            I’m not used to talking about my bodily functions, even with pretty young nurses.  However, I realize it’s a daily occurrence for many Atonement members, especially when we wind up sick or in the hospital.  But I give thanks to God that the pain in my belly and the irregular bathroom habits I’ve had of late have turned out to be only a minor infection.

             And yet my mind goes off on its own and wanders into the nooks and crannies of those other possibilities—what if it had been something major, chronic, malignant, life threatening?  To be ill, to be dis-eased, upsets the whole structure of your life.  You walk around as if tilted at an angle, with everything a little more uncertain and difficult due to the needs and weaknesses of the body. 

          On top of that, Lent brings a whole new layer of dis-ease into focus.  The crabby, selfish, irritable, prideful, pleasure-hungry, domineering, wasteful, grudge-bearing, two-faced,  manipulative, ungrateful tendencies of our nature are just as certain indicators of internal problems as belly pain or a worrisome x-ray.  The lessons and themes of Lent turn our attention towards our own human-ness, our embodied state, our weakness and our flesh.
           Our Savior knew the weakness of this flesh, knew temptation, and knows our pain.  He came, not with some fancy plan to rehabilitate the  human race, but to encounter weak and dis-eased people one at a time, face to face.  He came to know us first, and to help us climb out of this physical and mental trap where what is broken about us is all we see.  He  reached out and healed broken bodies, touched the dis-eased and disrespected, and straightened out the tilted lives of those who were estranged from God’s love.  Through his life, he left the imprint of wholeness on this world; in his death, he hands that wholeness over to us.
            This month, on our way from ashes to Easter, we make our way from our disease to God’s perfect health.  We have prescriptions and remedies from our Great Physician: Scriptures that remind and spiritual disciplines that strengthen.  We get our checkups checking in with one another in worship.  We even have our elixers and medicines as we take bread to nourish and wine to cleanse our souls.  But in it all, we are receiving the one cure for our sickness unto death.  In it all, the one God is giving his greatest gift to us, our only real need.  In it all we receive the presence, life, and love of God himself.

            In Psalm 8 the singer is amazed that God who is majestic and mighty, big and beautiful beyond our brain’s ability to know would care for us.  And yet, like the chicks under a hen’s wing, like the apple of a new father’s eye, like a prize rose or a pearl beyond all price our God has zeroed in on us to shower us with honor and glory.  He gave us this world, the animals and plants for food, the vast vistas of beauty and fields of stars in the night, minds to think with and abilities to shape the world around us. 
            After all that giving, God gave the best that He had and came among us Himself as Jesus Christ.  And what did we give that Greatest Giver of all — the One we owed everything to?  Only a hard and lonely death, abandoned in disgrace. But O how blessed we are he did not stop giving!
Today he gives us new life and a community of people committed to live in gratitude to the God who never stops blessing us.  He sees beyond our dis-ease and teaches us to forgive so we can experience healthier relationships with one another.  He delivers our daily bread and puts the grace in the grace we say. 
           William Tyndale, the great reformer who lost his life in an attempt to translate the Bible into English, said that through scripture God’s people “may stand fast, endure, and merrily maintain their soul’s health, with which the lusts of the flesh are subdued and killed and the spirit made soft to receive the imprint of the image of our Savior Jesus.”  I hope and pray this season finds you in renewed health of body, mind, and spirit, remade in the image of our merciful and gracious heavenly Savior, Jesus Christ.

Peace,

Pastor Scott

 

Ready for the race

...let us run with perseverance
the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus...
               -- Hebrews 12:1-2

    Yes, I’m excited about the SuperBowl and happy for two quarterbacks racing for their first Superbowl win, but there’s a race coming up this month that’s really on my mind and already has my adrenaline pumping.  This is a race that will take endurance, sacrifice, team spirit and commitment.  This is a race that won’t reach the finish line for three years.  This is a race that will help change the world, and you and I are both invited to run.

     For the first time in 20 years, Atonement is building again.  20 years ago we dedicated the present building to the work of ministry and to the glory of God.  This building has been a place to teach children, to feed people, to worship and praise God, to heal broken lives, to gather gifts for the poor, to bless and re-bless marriages, to invite the community, to laugh, to sing, and to discover God’s love in countless ways.  Today this building serves a growing congregation in a growing community, and we need more room. 

     God has called us to expand the work He is doing here, and to do so we are launching a Capital Campaign program called Laying Foundations for the Children of God.  We know we are hugely privileged people.  The book of Hebrews tells us this is not because of our great faith, but because we have already received our promised blessing from God.  Adam, Abel, Moses, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and David — all great men of faith, still didn’t have it as good as we do.  We have the gospel and we know Jesus Christ.  “To all who received him, who believed in his name” John 1:12 tells us, “he gave the power to become children of God.”
      This month, we begin a race for the future of this congregation — for people who have not yet set foot in our sanctuary, who have not yet heard of Atonement, and for many who have not yet heard of Jesus.  We are laying foundations for people of all ages to be able to invite their friends to classes, dinners, meetings, and events that we can not hold in our present space.  We are racing to give this church a better chance to reach people God has already put around us in our neighborhoods and subdivisions.  We are racing to fulfill our mission of “Sharing the Love of Jesus, Glorifying God and Extending His Kingdom.”
     I believe God is asking each of us to pray, participate, and give generously to this mission.  To prepare for the race, count your blessings.  Remember how good God has been, giving you friends, family, church, talents and abilities, and opportunities to share Christ and to serve others.  After all, “God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).  So as you decide what level of giving to commit, begin by asking God to show you your true and honest full potential.
      As you approach the starting line,  participate as fully as you can in the events of this program.  Besides attending church services this month, you are invited to a special Informational Meeting at 2pm on Saturday, February 9 at Saddlebrook resort.  The future building plans will be shared at this gathering, and everyone will have opportunities for questions and answers.  Most of all, make it a priority to attend the free Campaign Kickoff luncheon on Sunday, February 24.  This event will be a milestone in the history of our congregation — the starting gun goes off and the race officially begins.  There will be good food, some entertainment, and a message you won’t want to miss.

     And then together, side-by-side and unified, “let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us…”  Each of us is called to sacrifice, to flex our giving muscles, to stretch beyond what we’ve done before and give beyond our regular offerings to this new project.  Sacrifice means something different for everyone.  For some it may mean changing some day-to-day spending habits; for others it may be finding a way to increase your income; others may delay a major expenditure or draw from stocks, bonds, or other assets.  Whatever it means for you, my hope and prayer is for you to deepen your walk with the Lord and receive a blessing worth many times more than anything you are able to give.  We know God works that way, because no matter how fast we run the race, Jesus goes ahead of us.

Peace,

Pastor Scott

Do it all

Whatever you do in word or deed,
do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.
                             — Colossians 3:17

The email sounded urgent.  “Please come back,” it said in the Subject line.  “We miss you.”  But this was not from any long-lost family member or old friend from church.  This e-mail came from an online store.  I bought a desk lamp from them earlier this year, and now...Come back, we miss you — seriously?  I don’t even know you.  More like you miss my money.

             I suppose this kind of thing is supposed to make me feel some kind of attachment to the merchant, give me some sense of emotional obligation to them.  Instead, it creeps me out.  It makes me feel more anonymous, more like a number (a credit card number, that is) and less like a human being.  Our computers and cell phones are now tracking us, watching us, analyzing what we buy and where we go, trying to figure out what we are most likely to purchase next.  They share this info with companies that keep records of every purchase and send these warm fuzzy emails to entice us to keep coming back.
I don’t know about you, but it makes me uneasy knowing there are companies out there that know all kinds of things about me I don’t even know about myself.  Information is powerful, and technology has advanced so quickly in the last 10 years, the potential for abuse is huge and few of us see where it’s heading.  I get as many scams and spams in my email box as legitimate communications.  And it’s getting harder to tell the difference.
As I finish out my yearly read through the Bible, I am in the book of Revelation these days.  It is, of course, about the end times and where things are ultimately going on this planet, but it was also written for it’s own day.  The young Christian churches struggled with the vast

machinery of a brutal, dehumanizing Roman Empire.   True, it was a government that gave everyone a certain kind of safety and stability.  The Romans wanted to be loved by their subjects — after all, they built roads and sanitation systems, and kept a semblance of order.  But they made a demand that conflicted with every Christian’s conscience — worship the Emperor.   Call him your Lord, your Master, your Supreme Ruler, and everything will work out fine.  And often the Christians who turned out to be just uppity enough to say no were tortured or killed.

The book of Revelation is the story of the machinery of this world which intrudes into our life, demanding worship, allegiance, or at least to be liked.  Written in code, it depicts the dehumanizing horrors of their day as misshaped monsters and violent beasts feeding on the human spirit.  Now, I’m not saying that this company that sent me this one email pleading for another purchase is some kind of agent of the antichrist.  But I don’t think they’re entirely unrelated, either.

The world is full of pressures that push us away from God.  They want to replace the priorities of our hearts, the things we really want that would make us truly happy, with policies and products.  We fall in love with the things we do and the stuff we have, forgetting that love is for people. We find ourselves advancing into artificial worlds concocted by human beings, kingdoms of something other than Christ designed around political power or moving merchandise, or games of one type or another.  We exchange flesh and blood face-to-face human interaction for 140 letter tweets.  Our lives become centered in these worlds, and our spirits sag as we realize we’ve begun to leave God’s world, his kingdom, behind. 

Revelation is a warning to us today — that there are always rival kingdoms encroaching on God’s territory, kingdoms that will one day fall.  The end of the book is unbridled hope, but only for those who are  not so attached to the stuff of this world that they’ve forgotten that it’s people that God’s going to save in the end.  We’ll all be made new and given a place in the endless rejoicing of heaven, where God is always center stage.
With all that in mind, I can think of no better way to enter 2013 than with Paul’s prescription from Colossians — whatever you do, keep Jesus in mind and do it for him.  When deciding where to go, who to hang out with, how to spend your time, what to buy — do what you can be proud of doing, remembering that you always stand before Christ.  Maybe that’s him now, calling to you, pleading in your heart: Please come back, I miss you...

Peace,

Pastor Scott

 

 

Ready or not....

After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it,
that the remnant of humanity may seek the Lord,
and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord...

                                                                — Acts 15:16-17

It’s time to get ready — pull the tree out (remember where you put it?), dust off all those boxes of ornaments, find the old nativity set and get to work.  For most of us, the season of Advent is time to get busy.  We don’t just sit around waiting for the Christ child — we have things to do.  Run to the store to get the ingredients for those Christmas cookies.  Run the kids to rehearsal for the Christmas program.  Run down that list to find that just-right present for Uncle Albert (I’m sure there’s an app for that).  It’s a season full of preparations — and somewhere in the thick of it all — wrapping presents, receiving guests, decorating, cooking, going to church and  doing the good things we do — then all of a sudden Christmas comes. 

No matter how long the build up, it arrives in an instant.  No matter how long before Thanksgiving the Christmas music started to play on the radio, Christmas gets here before you know it.  It always takes my breath away,  not because the day itself is different from other days, but because it reminds me that on a day just as ordinary as this one God was born.  Under the same deep sky with the same stars looking down on this very planet, a virgin conceived a child named Jesus.  Immanuel, God with us.  Right here.

God had his own preparations to make for that day.  From the moment we stopped living for God and started making life just about us, the Lord got busy.  He began assembling the story, wrapping his greatest gift up in promises which would rain down upon his precious people.  We had turned our backs on his command and sovereignty, but God would come at us with grace.  “Humankind will crush your head,” he told the old serpent, “and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15). 

              He sent messengers throughout the ages to tell us that that what was lost would one day be found, what is gone will be regained, what was broken will be re-made.  The prophets shared the promise that David’s fallen tent — the line that once carried the hope of humankind, would be restored.  When our own attempts to set the world right proved utter failures — BEHOLD — “for us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be on his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6  God prepared the world for his arrival, bringing hope for a King of Kings, a light not just for David’s people the Jews, but for all people everywhere.

So if your tree looks a little lopsided, if you just couldn’t find the right gift for Uncle Albert, even if the pieces to your old nativity set have cracks in their necks or fingers broken off — however overdone the  Christmas cookies are, just remember there’s some One who’s been preparing for this for 2000 years.  No matter what, he will take us along.  No matter what, we are heading nonstop into a holy mystery, a downhill ride that won’t end until we find ourselves face to face with the miracle of the Word made flesh.

It’s time to get ready, to hear again the story of our sad descent into sin and the radical solution of God’s descent to be with us.  It’s time to prepare our hearts to marvel at the height, width, and depth of his love for us, that he would strip himself of all power to become a baby in a maiden’s arms.  It’s time to stand beneath the starlight and wonder at the moment when this world received the child who was the very one who made this world.  There’s nothing else like Christmas, and it’s on its way.  Are you ready?